The Game of Thrones Starbucks cup debacle. Watching Notre Dame go up in flames. The moment the world fell in love with Baby Yoda. Going through Google’s top searches of the year feels like flipping through a scrapbook of the internet’s collective obsessions. Released this week, the company’s annual “Year in Search” gives a snapshot of the most impactful celebrities, news, and trends of 2019—at least, in terms of Google searches—and this year’s data illustrates one fact very clearly: In its first full calendar year in America, TikTok has become the new progenitor of memes.
You can now add ‘30 million-watt peak power tattoo removing laser’ to the long list of things you probably shouldn’t be able to buy on eBay. YouTuber Drake Anthony, better known as Styropyro, is an expert on all things lasers, and even he was taken aback by the power of a laser that he, or really anyone, can buy on eBay.
